I hope this comes within the realm of d-i-y.
I am trying to arrange buildings insurance on my late fathers house. I need to establish a reasonably accurate cost for rebuilding so as to avoid any underinsured problems in the event of any claim.
The building is an 18C farmhouse, grade II listed, that has been divided into 3 totally separate dwellings. The separate dwellings were formed many years ago. It is of conventional construction - brick, timber & clay tiled roof. Timber content
Look for a policy designed for lets, which covers long empty periods, and providing you don't want loss of rental income insurance, is similar price to regular insurance (or was 10 years ago when we had to insure a late relative's house).
Be very open and honest in what you want the cover for, in writing.
Many thanks Andrew,
I am trying to arrange buildings insurance on my late fathers house. I need to establish a reasonably accurate cost for rebuilding so as to avoid any underinsured problems in the event of any claim.
It is the rebuild cost that I wish to establish. I would, of course, be scrupulously honest & open in all correspondence. The fact that 2 of the 3 dwellings are let does not seem to present any problem to the insurance companies that I have contacted so far. There are not any long empty periods. This is known & understood by those that I have contacted. Loss of rental income may be worth considering in future, only after I have proper buildings insurance in place.
Nick.
In message , Nick writes
Sounds a bit expensive to me as well, I had a 'full' survey done on our present listed Victorian house on purchase a year ago, including a rebuilding cost estimate for gbp 700 inc vat.
I would suggest ringing round some local surveyors and see how much they would charge. You want someone with experience of old listed buildings.
I'm not sure that it does.
We are currently with Home and Legacy they seemed to give a good quote, and had some good recommendations. Previously with Nationwide but they were very uncompetitive (as lots of the big names were for a listed building)
The Period Property Uk website has a good forum that might be useful to search/post to. :
You can use the building cost tables in the back of Homebuilding and Reonvating magazine. These work by area, build type, and size.
Even then I add a good bit, as I'd rather be ove rinsured than under if the worst happens.
Rick
You need to allow extra for listed buildings anyway, as repairs tend to cost more as traditional materials and techniques may be required
Some insurance companies don't require a rebuilding estimate. I'm with Barclays (better terms and cheaper than Direct Line for me!)
They list the rebuilding cost as 500,000 (i.e. about 4 times the actual cost). They charge according to a formula based on number of bedrooms, type of property and postcode.
Therefore, no expensive surveys, expensive overinsurance or risky underinsurance.
Christian.
I would say that is fair and accurate. That is about what my brand new house of similar nature cost to do post foundations and pre internal fitout.
You CAN knock up a cheap blockwork structure with plain gables, pre-made windows and te like for £60-80 a square, but not repair a classic style building,or rebuild like for like.
AND you will be faced with likely a year without a house, renting, plus loss of income from any rented out bits..
This is a vital comment. Listing means repair, not replace wherever possible. And replace in the style not simply rebuild.
That means skilled carpernetss, and expensive joiners..not a bunch of apes slinging up blockwork..its actually BETTER if you lose the WHOLE builiding rather than - say - a fire that takes out half the rooms or the roof.
As an example, I watched the carpenters building dormer windows in my house. They took as long for a couple of dormers as for the whole roof ..their time was waht cost - not te small bits of timber...detail costs money.
Its one thing to repair a square box with gable ends and a machine tile roof..that is 60-80 a square. To repair a listed building with period windows , dorneres and featires, a peg tile roof, leadwork, period guttering etc etc etc..its something else entirely.
I use the figure of =A365 per square foot for estimating purposes for fair size extensions, being add on to existing buildings. Obviously x2 if two storey. At 130 per square foot you should be well in. However as you state that the building is listed are there any special features that would need to be kept if rebuilding? Stone mullions and steel windows would soon eat into a budget as wood( pun intended) any decorative external timbers. Any special fireplaces/ decorative corniches?. Local surveyors would simply use tables according to square footage plus any special costly feature that were highlighted.
HTH
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